Why do you have an American Accent?
Well there is actually a LOT of debate about my accent… I get asked sometimes if I am American, I also have people saying they can’t hear any accent at all, and of course some Americans think I sound fully Australian. So whatever you hear… I lived in a little village in what’s now called West Papua in Indonesia from when I was 3 till I was 10 years old and then I lived in Western Sydney, in NSW, Australia then moved around Sydney and it’s outskirts in my 20s and then moved to Colorado, in America for most of my 30s. (That’s right folks, I’m in my 40s now). Now I live in Wollongong, NSW. Also known as The Illawarra. Traditionally known as Dharawal Country. I’ve never lived here before 2025 but I am loving being a walk to the beach, being able to wear whatever I like and not raising any eyebrows (people wear anything from pjs to bikinis to club wear).
But back to the accent.. I set up my wedding planning business AND began my life as a professional photographer while living in Colorado. I certainly took photos and planned weddings in Australia before this, but I wasn’t doing it as my full time income like I did when I was in Colorado. I loved planning weddings and taking photos of not only special occasions, but I loved taking photos that are editiorial and make ordinary people feel like they are modelling for a magazine shoot. To get these shoots to look just right, I design and plan, and then during the shoot I give a lot of direction. And when I say a lot…I mean a LOT. I sometimes even move people as if they were mannequins!
While I am giving direction, I want to be understood, and so I think I subconsciously make sure that I am enunciating well and part of that has been saying ‘R’s and changing some of my vowels. I think the benefit we have here in Australia - or at least in Sydney and the Illawarra is that we are super multicultural and our ears are used to listening out for various accents so mostly, no-one even blinks an eye when I talk or use words like ‘trash’ and ‘sofa’.
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